President Ronald Reagan survived an assassination attempt on March 30, 1981. This picture was taken shortly before the incident.

The man in the white raincoat is Secret Service agent Jerry Parr; after the shooting, it was Parr who pushed Reagan into a limousine, noticed he was bleeding, and directed the driver to take them to a hospital, probably saving Reagan’s life.

Parr had been inspired to pursue his career by the 1939 film The Code of the Secret Service, in which dashing agent “Brass” Bancroft survives a shooting in Mexico. Bancroft was played by a 28-year-old Ronald Reagan.

Reagan got a heck of a lot done before the end of his second term, if you didn't notice. Kinda hard to be president when you're dead, as many presidents have found out. Then-VP George Bush was a good president, but Reagan stepped up and was a great one.

And if you've lived a good life and done all kinds of cool things, and carrying the cross of illness and uncertainty is about all that's left for you to do that you haven't previously overcome, why shouldn't God's training plan add that in?